Gaming terminals, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such terminals among players depends on the perceived likelihood of winning money at the terminal and the intrinsic entertainment value of the terminal relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing terminals and the expectation of winning each terminal is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the more entertaining and exciting of the terminals.
Consequently, gaming terminal operators strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting terminals available because such terminals attract frequent play and, hence, increase profitability for the operators. Thus, in the highly competitive gaming terminal industry, there is a continuing need to develop new types of games, or improvements to existing games, that will enhance the entertainment value and excitement associated with the games.
One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance the entertainment value is that of a progressive jackpot, or “progressive.” In the gaming industry, a progressive involves collecting data on the wagers placed, or “coin-in” data, from participating gaming devices (e.g., slot machines), contributing a percentage of that coin-in data to a jackpot amount, and awarding the jackpot amount to a player upon the occurrence of a certain jackpot-won event. A jackpot-won event typically occurs when a “progressive winning position” is achieved at a participating gaming device. If the gaming device is a slot machine, for example, a progressive winning position may correspond to alignment of progressive jackpot reel symbols along a certain payline. The initial progressive jackpot is a usually preset minimum amount, but progressively increases as players continue to play the gaming terminal without winning the jackpot. Further, when several gaming terminals are linked together such that players at several gaming terminals compete for the same jackpot, the jackpot progressively increases at a much faster rate, which leads to further player excitement. In existing progressive jackpots, the progressives are often high-pay, low-frequency progressives, which may result in some players becoming disheartened when they do not win.
Another concept that has been successfully employed is that of a “secondary” or “bonus” game which may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus game may include any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic game, and is initiated by the occurrence of certain pre-selected events or outcomes of the basic game. For example, the progressive described above may be played as a bonus game. Such a bonus game has been found to produce a significantly higher level of player excitement than the basic game because it provides a greater expectation of winning than the basic game.
In existing gaming terminals, the winning outcome for both the bonus game and the basic game is usually announced by bright lights and/or flashing signage. Some of the more advanced gaming terminals may also use animation displayed via neon lights or on a simple display screen. It has been observed, however, that such artificial imagery has limited entertainment value beyond the first few encounters. A real-life video of events and people, on the other hand, provides greater player appeal and longer enjoyment. This is due, in part, to people's tendency to relate better on an emotional and psychological level to seeing real-life events and people than to flashing lights and animation.
Accordingly, what is needed is a gaming terminal that is capable of providing increased excitement and entertainment value over existing gaming terminals. More specifically, what is needed is a gaming terminal that uses real-life videos of events and people as part of the gaming experience in order to capture and retain player interest.